Yea, pigeon's are best trained. With the right bird's you can go a long way's from home to train and the bird's will beat you back.
All of the bird's I have now came from guy's that raced pigeon's and gave me their cull's. One condition, they didn't want them back.
Those bird's I took home and kept in a closed up pen and didn't let them out, breeder's. The young bird's from there went into the house where I let them come and go when I wasn't using them.
Those bird's I would take out and release away from home and let them fly home. First only a mile or so but then worked out from there several mile's at a time. Most of my old bird's would come home from several hundred miles off. With racing bird's it's about speed coming home, with training bird's it's just coming home that count's.
One of the best thing's about pigeon's is not that they are cheap and easy to keep or you can not only use them over and over but that you can train anywhere you want within several hundred mile's if you train the bird's.
When you take then out, tie a small piece of bright yarn on the leg. Depending on how far they will come back from, change the color of the yarn. Then when you load up to go train, you can choose the bird's to take according to the color of yarn on their leg's.
Just remember that if the bird has a band on it and it's from a racing loft, don't turn it loose.
Most of the guy's I knew shot most of the bird's they trained with. I don't understand the purpose in that as it keep's you looking for more bird's. The only thing a shot bird is good for is retrieving. Until you reach the point where the dog is really good at standing bird's, a bird leaving in the air is a lot easier to keep the dog away from than a dead bird laying on the ground in front of a dog that broke. By the time you get your dog to the point where you need to kill bird's for it, a dozen pair's will be giving you all the kill bird's you can use.
Just an after though. You'll find a lot of guy's that will not train with pigeon's. Their belief is that if you hunt pigeon's train with pigeon's. Well what do you do if you hunt grouse? I'm not sure where you'd find grouse to train on that would also supply you with kill bird's out of season. The step from pigeon's to game bird's is a fairly short step if your dog is trained well. Seem's from what I read here most you guy's know that.
trianing pegeon's
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Don
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trianing pegeon's
Never set your dog up to fail - Delmar smith
The greatest room in the world is the room for improvement - William F. Brown
Some people think to much like people and not enough like dogs!
The greatest room in the world is the room for improvement - William F. Brown
Some people think to much like people and not enough like dogs!
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12 Volt Man
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Don,Most of the guy's I knew shot most of the bird's they trained with. I don't understand the purpose in that as it keep's you looking for more bird's. The only thing a shot bird is good for is retrieving. Until you reach the point where the dog is really good at standing bird's, a bird leaving in the air is a lot easier to keep the dog away from than a dead bird laying on the ground in front of a dog that broke. By the time you get your dog to the point where you need to kill bird's for it, a dozen pair's will be giving you all the kill bird's you can use.
This is fantastic advice. I think I have killed a too many birds the past few years. I have a little loft now. I have 16 racers in there. Just waiting for the young ones, so that I can fly them just as you say. I am going to train with a few birds each day. Even if it is just a fast trip nearby. I want my dogs solid broke. I want them to just stand there and watch that bird fly away. The dogs I have right now are solid retrievers.
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Don
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12volt man,
I had a system to break dog's that worked very well the vast majority of the time. Once I got the dog's standing well in the field I went back to yard work. By standing, I don't mean they were broke to wing, they weren't.
But we'd go back to whoa training on the check cord. I'd check cord the dog around a bit then whoa it in front of me. Then I'd reach in the game bag and take out a live pigeon, hold it up and let it fly away; don't throw it, to much distraction for the dog. If the dog moved other than to watch the bird, I'd whoa him and bump him under the chin with the check cord. Once I reached a point where the dog just stood and watched the bird fly, I'd reduce the time interval between the whoa command and the bird release. It soon reach's a point where when the dog in coming in you don't give the command, just release the bird. You now have a dog stopping to flush and he don't even know it. If he's 100 % take him out and try on one bird, one only please. We don't want to prove him a martyr, just that he learned something. Now go back and start all over again but this time drop a dead bird at your feet. You drop it there because it you throw it away, you may have a foot race to it. Remember the dog is coming to you. Don't tempt him, he might do just what you don't want and this is not the test. Go completely thru this excerise and then alternate between live and dead bird's untill he's 100%.
Now come's the test. Start all over and this time use a bird with the flight feather's pulled and it's leg's tied with a pipe cleaner. Whoa and when stopped, drop the live bird on the ground BEHIND you. When you've worked your way back to 100%. Go to the dead bird again but this time toss it off to your side and fire the blank gun. If the dog stand's, let him retrieve. Do a bunch of that then do the same with the hobbled bird. When your done you have a dog that stop's to flush and retrieve's on command. Quite often when you go to the field now, you have a broke dog. and, you never laid a hand on him!
I had a system to break dog's that worked very well the vast majority of the time. Once I got the dog's standing well in the field I went back to yard work. By standing, I don't mean they were broke to wing, they weren't.
But we'd go back to whoa training on the check cord. I'd check cord the dog around a bit then whoa it in front of me. Then I'd reach in the game bag and take out a live pigeon, hold it up and let it fly away; don't throw it, to much distraction for the dog. If the dog moved other than to watch the bird, I'd whoa him and bump him under the chin with the check cord. Once I reached a point where the dog just stood and watched the bird fly, I'd reduce the time interval between the whoa command and the bird release. It soon reach's a point where when the dog in coming in you don't give the command, just release the bird. You now have a dog stopping to flush and he don't even know it. If he's 100 % take him out and try on one bird, one only please. We don't want to prove him a martyr, just that he learned something. Now go back and start all over again but this time drop a dead bird at your feet. You drop it there because it you throw it away, you may have a foot race to it. Remember the dog is coming to you. Don't tempt him, he might do just what you don't want and this is not the test. Go completely thru this excerise and then alternate between live and dead bird's untill he's 100%.
Now come's the test. Start all over and this time use a bird with the flight feather's pulled and it's leg's tied with a pipe cleaner. Whoa and when stopped, drop the live bird on the ground BEHIND you. When you've worked your way back to 100%. Go to the dead bird again but this time toss it off to your side and fire the blank gun. If the dog stand's, let him retrieve. Do a bunch of that then do the same with the hobbled bird. When your done you have a dog that stop's to flush and retrieve's on command. Quite often when you go to the field now, you have a broke dog. and, you never laid a hand on him!
Never set your dog up to fail - Delmar smith
The greatest room in the world is the room for improvement - William F. Brown
Some people think to much like people and not enough like dogs!
The greatest room in the world is the room for improvement - William F. Brown
Some people think to much like people and not enough like dogs!